title: Societal costs of non-cardiac chest pain compared with ischemic heart disease--a longitudinal study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP) is a common complaint. Our aim was to present a detailed description of the costs of patients with NCCP compared to patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and Angina Pectoris (AP) from a societal perspective.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data on healthcare utilization and annual societal costs, including direct healthcare costs and indirect costs due to productivity loss, were collected from different databases. The participants consisted of 199 patients from a general hospital in Sweden (99 with NCCP, 51 with AMI, 49 with AP), mean age of 67 years, 59% men.
  
  
  RESULTS
  NCCP, AMI, and AP patients had on average 54, 50 and 65 primary care contacts and 3, 4, and 4 hospital admissions during a period of 2 years. Length of hospital stay was 6, 11 and 11 days. On average, 14%, 18%, and 25% of NCCP, AMI and AP patients were on sick-leave annually, and about 12% in each group received a disability pension. The mean annual societal costs of NCCP, AMI and AP patients were €10,068, €15,989 and €14,737.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the annual societal cost of NCCP patients was lower than in AMI and AP patients, the cost was still considerable (€10,068). Taken into account the high prevalence of NCCP, the cumulative annual national cost of these patients could be more than the double of AMI and AP if all patients incurred the same costs as in this study. Targeted interventions are important in order to support patients with NCCP and minimize healthcare utilization and costs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Welfare Studies, Division of Health, Activity and Care, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Kungsgatan 40, 601 74, Norrköping, Sweden. ghassan.mourad@liu.se.
authors.forename: Ghassan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mourad
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alwin
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Strömberg
authors.forename: Tiny
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jaarsma
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology